Knockout
by Robert Bates
“Mark
wants to beat your ass,” Julian had warned
me at the beginning of the school day.
More like Mark
is going to beat my ass. Everyone knows
I can’t fight. I sit in my seat wondering
what will happen next.
Julian sees my
worried face and says, “Relax, I got your
back.”
The teacher
walks out and I can feel Mark watching me.
Rachel
whispers, “It’ll be really funny if you
win,” into my ear from her seat beside me.
I turn and
Mark is in my face. He pushes me and I
instinctively push him back.
He hits me.
Then I’m on the ground. Completely
disoriented.
I wait for
another punch to come but it never does. I
finally regain my senses and get up to see Julian
holding Mark with his arms pinned behind his back.
“If you
are going to do something, do it now,” he
says, struggling to hold him.
I hit Mark
three times with my left hand then he elbows
Julian and breaks free. He charges at me
and before I can react his fist connects with my
jaw.
I wake up with
Rachel in my face.
“That was
pretty funny too.”
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